


Bittersweet Victory

by theedas



Category: Free!
Genre: Gen, He doesn't know it yet tho, No Plot/Plotless, Poor bb, at the relay, just as gen as canon, rin is jealous
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-28
Updated: 2014-06-28
Packaged: 2018-02-06 12:57:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1858848
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theedas/pseuds/theedas
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They replaced him. It doesn't matter. (It shouldn't matter)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bittersweet Victory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tsariina](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tsariina/gifts).



> I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing.

Haru hasn’t changed at all. None of them have - and maybe that’s the problem, because Rin has. Rin’s changed. Rin left for four years and it feels like life in Iwatobi had stayed at the status quo until he came back. The only difference, it seems, is that they got bigger. 

Only not. 

He watches at the relay and something coils in his stomach and settles there, something dark and twisted that leaves a bitter taste in his mouth. 

They replaced him. 

The boy -  _Ryugazaki?_  - the one with the glasses, he. He sucks. Like, a lot. He’s worse than a vacuum. He’s awful, is what he is. His attempt - _was that supposed to be butterfly? -_  may not have been the worst he’s ever seen, but he  _fumes_  to think that this was his replacement, this was the person they chose to take his place. This was their new teammate-

It doesn’t matter. 

It  _shouldn’t._  They’re not  _his_  teammates, not anymore. He hasn’t had ‘friends’ for more than four years, so they don’t have that kind of relationship either. That means it shouldn’t matter. It  _doesn’t_ matter.

They’re rivals now.

Or maybe not even that, because he’s in freestyle and Haru… Haru’s doing relay. (Talk about role reversal.) But what Haru does isn’t important because he  _beat_  Haru. He  _won._  They’re not rivals anymore, so he can move on now. 

Right? 

He looks up and sees Haru’s eyes locked on him. Swallows.

Maybe not.

**Author's Note:**

> "I don't want to be alone, I want to be left alone." - Audrey Hepbern


End file.
